Oct 20, 2013

An affirmation

I had a chance to meet a friend of a friend who affirmed my passion and encouraged me to live life; it is comforting. I think the problem with me is when I decide on something, I do it immediately and do not think much of the consequences; I'm spontaneous like that. Not even sure if it's really a problem; most of the time it works for me, but sometimes, I hurt people along the way.

God has weird sense of humor

Life has a funny way of telling you she's there, if it's God who does that, I'd like to understand more about his sense of humor because as much as what happened to me was painful, it's also ridiculously funny when I think about it.

For a while, I got lost in my comfort zone; I have a good job, made plans, I saved, I invested. For several years, it is as if life is going according to way I planned it to be. I thought I had a clear understanding of where I was and where I wanted to be (well for the most part) until an unfortunate event happened. Life, as I knew it, became meaningless.

When my savings got almost wiped out, I thought to myself, wow.. just like that, years of hard work were zapped in less than a month. Worse, I didn't spend it on myself, or on someone I love.. I spent it on someone who I hated almost my entire conscious life.

Take me back to the start

Today, I feel that I just want to travel for a while, get lost, and hopefully be found again. My plans are ruined anyway, so what else am I to do but just adapt to the situation. Several times, I don't know whether to cry or to laugh at what life has given me; it is the kind that can make you snap and lose touch of reality. We have different ways of coping, but the important thing is we do cope eventually and move on with our life.

Anyway, I love good food and adding culture to my personality, so I bet mingling with different races will be a win-win situation for me. Plus, I may not have the chance to do this in the future. I'm 28, and everyone around me is either getting married or having children. But instead of being pressured to settle down, I'll do the opposite. I'm going to do just whatever the hell I like. This is my way of suicide.

A song playing in my head right now is Scientist by Coldplay.. specifically the line "Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it will be this hard.. so take me back to the start". I just want to go back to the start when everything was simple. I know the line was taken out of context, haha!

Oct 2, 2013

If you've used an Apple device, you'd also know that their accessories are very expensive. One lightning cable will cost you around ~1,000 PhP (~23 USD) and that doesn't include the charger you plug on the outlet.

If you're like me, you'd keep a separate charger in the office because you don't want to carry your lifeline all the time. If you have a car you'd probably place another one there too. My setup is to keep the original charger at home and buy cheaper ones for emergency use.

In CDR-King you can buy a third party lightning cable for P150 (~3 USD). Prior to iOS 7, the third party cable worked perfectly, even the data is working. After I upgraded to iOS 7, a message is displayed "This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone" and you have no option but to dismiss the notice. The phone displays a charging icon (lightning) but it's not really charging as the battery continues to drain.

Searching the internet, people try different things and this post will consolidate the workarounds to make third party cables work. None of them worked for me so far (though I haven't tried jailbreaking), so if you know know another work around, please post it in the comment section below.

Plug the cable then turn off your iOS Device. Says, it should charge while your phone is turned off.

Workaround 3B: Plugin right before the phone turns off

This is a variation of Workaround 3A. I'm not sure what's the difference but I managed to increase my battery percentage by doing this.

Hold the lock button, then slide to turn off your phone. When you see the black screen with the busy wheel icon, immediately plugin the cable. You can't see any progress or use your phone, but after a while when you turn in on, it should have a higher juice. For emergency situations, this is better than nothing.

Workaround 4: Jailbreak iOS 7

This is just a possibility, an idea from a commentator in iphonehacks post that jailbreaking your iPhone might allow to bypass the security in using fake chargers.

If for some reason you cannot use your iPhone's physical power button, then you might be wondering how to do it inside the iOS operating system. Maybe you'll think that Siri can do it, but unfortunately officially Siri can't turn your iPhone off for you (at least not yet).

An alternative way to turn off your iPhone (or iPad or any iOS device) is to use the assistive touch and press and hold the "Lock Screen" accessibility button.

If you haven't turned on your Accessibility setting, you can do so by going to Settings > General > Accessbility > Assistive Touch and sliding the switch button to "On".

You can now turn off your iPhone by clicking the assistive touch button and going to "Device" then pressing and holding the "Lock Screen" accessibility button.

mvergel.com

Last year, 2012, I had my first 3,000+ visits which was around 200% increase in the rate of visits from 2011. This year, 2013, I had my 16,508+ visits or around ~500 visitors per day. This is a 400% increase from the previous year.

My alexa rating continues to move up from a ranking of 1,192,962th in 2012 to 651,786th in 2013. Mvergel.com is in the 6 digits ranking now, target is to move to 5 digits or below the 100,000 mark. This is good, considering there are now 3.58B websites in the world as of Aug 2013.

Before: 1.1M+ Now: 651K+

For my blog statistics, my personal blog "Manny Vergel spaces out!" with 150K+ page views is still leading because I can write anything under the sun. Whatever topic that's not related to finance, programming or food and that's a big scope.

My programming blog is in the second place with 77K+ views. I mostly write about Node JS, Oracle, SQL, iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Java.

Pesobility blog is in the third place. This is my niche blog about finances, investments and the Philippine Stock Market. In only a few months, it already has 55K+ pageviews. It will probably be my number one blog soon (2-3 years).

My food blog came in last with 12K+ views. I enjoy eating in new restaurants but I don't have the time to write much about it. Hopefully soon, I'll do something about it and probably create a separate website with collaborative food blogging since this is my weakest point. I need the help of others to write content and increase traffic.

What changed? How to increase site traffic

SEO was definitely improved. Choice of keywords and tags are important, how you construct an entry to use different words that has a more probability of being searched.

The Google+ profile helped so that you'll see a picture when I'm in the search results of google.

Additional rich meta's like in reviews, so you'll see star ratings.

Writing more content. The more original, the better as Google is not fond of duplicate contents. As always, content is king.

People ask how you can increase your site traffic. My site traffic is not even that huge (currently 500 to 1500+ page views per day) but it's definitely improving. If you're still stuck in the very low levels like 20-30 page views a day or less, you may consider improving your content first. What are you offering? Is it offered by other websites, if so, what's the difference? Why would people visit your website instead of the competition.

If you're blogging or making youtube videos, think what is interesting, what is stimulating to the mind; maybe something controversial, or something others would find useful. Know your audience: mvergel.com is trickier since this is not a niche site, and people from all over the world visits this site unlike with pesobility.com where my site traffic mostly comes from my country, the Philippines.

Finding your niche may also prove beneficial. Publish what you're really passionate about and focus on that specific category. For me, I became passionate about investments and finance management and I want to share this to other people because I was amazed that there's so little information and awareness especially in my country. In pesobility, I write posts about the different investment vehicles and my views on the Philippine Stock Market.

Anyway, this is for another blog, I'll post more about this in a separate post.

pesobility.com

As I said in my previous post, I'll apply the SEO techniques I learned in my new niche website pesobility.com. In addition to these, I've also added social marketing since I have a specific target audience. It's only a basic marketing like having a Twitter account and a Facebook page where people can follow what's happening to the website. This proves to be beneficial in traffic.

My first 6000+ visits for pesobility.com

Pesobility.com started early this year (2013). It is moving quickly, it began with 130 visitors last February then 1000+ in April, and 6000+ last July.

pesobility alexa ranking: 1.4M+

Alexa ranking of pesobility.com is now at 1,466,074. I'm hoping to see an improvement by next year since it has been only up for a few months.

Aug 4, 2013

I just had to take my mind off (of) something deeply troubling so I decided to accept a friend's invitation to try the Party Bus and document my experience.

When I first heard of Party Bus Manila, I immediately thought of Pub Crawl Boracay, it has a similar idea where you party in a group, hopping from one bar to another with activities along the way.

I invited a few friends to try the Party Bus Manila. Registration is easy, you just go to their website and sign up. You will be contacted by a representative and get the instructions to pay the 50% down. The registration fee was P1750, the price was lower than the usual since it was a first anniversary event.

The meeting was set at 9:30PM, Distillery, Fort. If you arrive at exactly 9:30PM though, it's most probably that you'll be one of the early birds there but no worries, you get free drinks anyway; in our case it was either Stella Artois or Rum Coke.

The actual event started around 10PM+. To lighten up the mood, they lined us up, boys vs girls in parallel. They asked several questions that you need to answer to the person in front of you. It was alright.

The party limousine is like a big van; I was surprised that they were able to fit 30 people there. It was a little hot inside though, probably because of the number of people inside. They should definitely improve the air conditioning.

They gave drinks inside the bus. For those people who are wondering if you can drink inside the bus, yes, you can. I was hoping to get a taste of gummy candies soaked in vodka, but this was not present at the time.

People who joined Party Bus were very friendly, and I get to meet people from different countries, there were this Swiss guy, Vietnamese, Thai and there was a Filipina who talked with a Singaporean accent.

I noticed, however, that the organizers were using a point and shoot camera so I asked what's up with that. They said that the official photographer was sick. No worries.. for now.

The first official stop was Aracama bar at Fort Taguig. When we entered Aracama, many of us thought that we were at the wrong place because people were dining, there was no bar area in sight, and the place was well lit. Little did we know that the party is upstairs. The place is well maintained, service is excellent, it wasn't overcrowded, or maybe not yet.

Aracama was fun, there was another boys vs girls activity where a big glass of alcoholic drink with many straws was given to each group and the first to finish the drink wins. Of course the boys won. We stayed a little longer then went to the second and final stop, Urbn.

The Minor Setback

A disappointing thing happened when we went to Urbn. They won't let some of us enter because the place was overcrowded. So we waited.. and waited.. it was more than 30 minutes of stress, and worse, we were asked to fall in line thrice and we were discarded thrice! I don't know what happened there, maybe there was a miscommunication between Urbn and Party Bus' management. The reception was not very nice, bouncers were a bit rude, probably because they were stressed with the number of people. This contributed to the already stressful situation. People were thinking of leaving and going back to Aracama or to another bar, I think some did.

Eventually we got in but the high was already gone, it's one of those setbacks that dampens one's mood. My excitement was lessened by the wait and the heat. I texted the Party Bus management that I was disappointed. One representative talked to me and said sorry, and explained many things I didn't hear since it was so loud inside. I'm the kind of person who says what's on my mind and I just had to say my piece to them. It was something I hoped I didn't experience but it already happened, not much we can do about it except to just shrug it off for the moment and just continue to have some fun.

Final Words

Overall, it was alright, you get to party and meet new people and possibly new friends. I still enjoyed with despite the minor setback. People like me who loves to party should definitely try this, or for tourists looking what to do in Manila; this is a fun experience.

I give Party Bus Manila a 3 out of 5 stars. I would've given it a 4.5 if it weren't for the incident.

Aug 1, 2013

Public Policy Polling conducted a U.S. survey about conspiracy theories which produced surprising results:

Obama is the AntiChrist: Thirteen percent believed this is true. So will Obama unite the entire world as one and place the mark of the beast to earth's population? We'll see.

Global Warming is a hoax: 37 percent believed global warming is a hoax. Somehow, part of me doesn't believe in this; that the earth is in its natural cycle of getting hot / getting cold, and it's not caused by what we do.

Fake moon landing: Seven percent believed the moon landing was faked. I watched this in Exposed and they showed some compelling evidences; that it has been done in a studio with a controlled environment. I don't know, NASA / other scientists have already disproven each evidence with a scientific explanation. Who knows.

Shape-shifting reptiles from other planet takes on human form to control our world: Four percent of Americans believed in this. This is one of the more bizare conspiracy theories I have heard / read. But when I googled it, there are images and videos of evidences that this is true (I'm guessing they are fake). Some show eyes of politicans that look like reptiles, or part of the body that looks like it's partly lizard. And to think a good number of people believe in this stuff makes me uneasy.

Aliens exist: 30% said yes, they believe it. There's a lot of shows / documentaries about aliens and most are fun to watch. But if I were to pick one version, I would pick that we, ourselves, are aliens.

A secret powerful elite conspires to rule the world through an authoritarian world government and impose a new world order: 28%. Sounds antichrist-y to me. Before that happens, I guess we need the unification of countries to form a bigger organisation like what happened in European union. Will there be an Asian union? It's hard to control so many counties; like in the military, probably easier to do a chain of command. I'm just saying, but I don't believe in that a new world order is in the making.

Media or the government adds secret mind-controlling technology to television broadcast signals: Fifteen percent. They don't have to do that actually, even without the technology, just watching normal tv will hypnotize you and put messages in your head and order your subconscious to do something. Even a lie told often becomes the truth. That's why advertising is very effective.

Pharmaceutical companies and the medical industry are working together to invent new diseases for more money. Fifteen percent. People are watching too many hollywood movies. And probably those same people who owns pharmacuetical companies will think of doing that, in the end, conspiracy may become the truth.

U.S. government allowed the 9/11 attack. Eleven percent. No comment on this controversial manner that happened on September 11, 2001. I believe in the conspiracy that an entity in U.S. are watching everyone's blogs, emails, facebook groups, chats, etc. Kinda like the TV series, Person of Interest. Now, I'm watching too much TV.

Jul 17, 2013

Nike Philippines just released the free Lebron James tickets today and many people are in BGC right now to claim it. Those who fell in line yesterday were given stubs with the time when they can claim the free tickets. Rumors say they stopped giving stubs 10AM today, but people are still lining up for a chance to get free tickets.

The same free tickets are now being sold in sulit.com.ph at around 2,500 to P5,000 each. I guess the cost justifies the popularity and demand even though no details were disclosed what Lebron James will actually do here in Manila on Tuesday (July 23). If you are a die hard fan, seeing him smile in real life is probably worth the money.

So if you're in dire need and you want to know where to get Lebron James tickets, even if you have to pay for it, it's probably sold in buy and sell sites like sulit.

Jul 12, 2013

Nike Philippines is bringing Lebron James to Manila on July 23, and they are giving away the tickets for free.

Tickets will be available at Nike Park in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) starting July 17 at 12 noon. Two tickets will be given to each person. I imagine a big crowd and heavy traffic in BGC because of fans wanting to get free tickets.

Jul 11, 2013

Several paid apps are temporarily for free in celebration of Apple's fifth year anniversary. Take advantage of this by downloading them so that it'll show in your history that you've already purchased the app and you don't have to pay for it ever again. You can just uninstall the apps you don't like after downloading them, or it should be also possible just to cancel your download and it will still be marked as purchased (haven't tried t he latter).

My account was immediately disabled after registration, but I didn't violate any terms / conditions. The error displayed was not very helpful, since it just says "Your account has been disabled due to terms of service violations: http://instagram.com/legal/terms/" but didn't exactly say what service violation you committed.

Other people are also experiencing this problem, where some accounts are suddenly disabled and people can't login anymore.

Jul 8, 2013

In the movie Man of Steel, Clark Kent started with facial hair which eventually vanished without any explanation. If Superman's hair is as strong as every cell in his body, then it should take a lot of force to cut one strand of hair, let alone shave an entire beard.

My theory is that he shaved it using his hands. I forgot what movie it was, but I remember a character who used his bare hands to shave his beard. It's probably the same thing in Superman's case. Another theory is the use of Kryptonite shaver? Lol, it's absurd, but I don't know. This is a question that will not solve global economic problems but it's nice to think about anyway.

May 24, 2013

No, it's not happening yet (As far as I know). I just wonder if there are other Filipino's who are interested in seeing her live in Manila. Put it in the comment section below if you're like me who's getting to know and loving Sia's songs more and more, and who would love to attend her concert some day. Who knows, it might reach people who can actually bring Sia here in the country.

This is more of an experiment if many are looking for Sia's Concert in Manila. But I do hope she visits the Philippines. I want to hear her live, singing Wild Ones, Titanium and She Wolf. Hmm apparently I only know her famous songs, and all of them have associated artists. Maybe I'll listen to her non-mainstream albums too.

Apr 25, 2013

From the popular game Draw Something, which we all loved and eventually get tired of, comes the sequel aptly named Draw Something 2!

The interface feels like Instagram, and I mean it in a good way. You can see what others drew and there are more social options such as liking, commenting and sharing.

But the biggest difference is the set of tools available for drawing. With the new app, people are equipped to make more beautiful drawings. Just by looking at the gallery, I can see how talented people are and how sucky I am haha!

Zynga has made quite a game with Draw Something 2. Maybe it'll take a longer time before we get bored playing this game. I give Draw Something 2 a4 out of 5 stars.

As of writing it's only available for iOS. You can download the free version here.

I love learning new things and today I read a new term: Pink Moon. Pink Moon is the term for the full moon in the month of April, and no, the moon will not turn pink tonight (April 25, 2013).

Although we might see a change in color due to the coincidence of partial lunar eclipse that's also happening tonight; probably we'll see the moon a bit orange-y, but who knows it might actually turn somewhat pink tonight haha! The lunar eclipse is visible in Asia, Africa and Europe.

According to various sources, the term Pink Moon dates back to the ancient times where moons were named after the different seasons important to ancient tribes, describing the prominent scenario seen on earth:

Apr 16, 2013

If you type the coordinates 52.376552,5.198303 in Google Maps and check the satellite view, you'll see an unusual picture. I freaked out a bit when I first saw the image at the same time I was amazed that such a setting can be captured by Google Maps.

It's like a scene from a horror film where two men were seemingly dragging a dead body leaving a trail of blood along the way. What will they do next, throw the body in the lake? Haha!

Some say it's a dog, or a furry animal, some are convinced that it's a dead body. What do you think? Type it in the comment section below.

The author is Manuel Vergel aka Manny. He's an experienced software developer in the Philippines. He's passionate about programming and sharing web development knowledge to the Filipino youth. He's into Java, Oracle, iOS (iPhone and iPad) development. Along with his blog in mvergel.com, he also authors Pesobility.com and is the co-creator of JuanSolution.com. (more)